.\" @(#)ircd.8 2.0 (beta version) 29 Mar 1989 
.TH IRCD 8 "10 July 2000"
.SH NAME
ircd \- The Undernet Internet Relay Chat Daemon
.SH SYNOPSIS
.hy 0
.IP \fBircd\fP
[-t] [-d directory] [-f configfile] [-x debuglevel] [-h hostname]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
\fIircd\fP is the Undernet Internet Relay Chat daemon.  
\fIircd\fP is a server in that its function is to "serve"
the client program \fIirc(1)\fP with messages and commands.  All commands
and user messages are passed directly to \fIircd\fP for processing
and relaying to other servers.  \fIirc(1)\fP depends upon
there being an \fIircd\fP server running somewhere for it to connect to
and thus allow the user to begin talking to other users.
.LP
There are many common clients including ircII, EPIC, and BitchX for UNIX,
mIRC and pIRCh for Windows, and IRCle and Homer for the Macintosh.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-d directory
This option tells the server to change to that directory and use
that as a reference point when opening \fIircd.conf\fP and other startup
files.
.TP
.B \-t
Instructs the server run in the foreground and to direct debugging output to
standard output.
.TP
.B \-x#
Defines the debug level for \fIircd\fP. The higher the debug level, the more
messages get directed to debugging file (or standard output if the -t option is
used).
.TP
.B \-w interface
This option is deprecated.  Outgoing connections are bound to the
interface specified in the M: line, and incoming connections are accepted only on
interfaces specified in the P: lines.
.TP
.B \-f filename
Specifies the \fIircd.conf\fP file to be used for this server. The option
is used to override the default \fIircd.conf\fP given at compile time.
.TP
.B \-c
This flag must be given if you are running \fIircd\fP from \fI/dev/console\fP or
any other situation where fd 0 isn't a TTY and you want the server to fork
off and run in the background. This needs to be given if you are starting
\fIircd\fP from an \fIrc\fP (such as \fI/etc/rc.local\fP) file.
.TP
.B \-h hostname
Allows the user to manually set the server name at startup. The default
name is hostname.domainname.
.TP
.B \-p portname
This is deprecated in favor of specifying server ports in P: lines.

.SH CONFIGURATION
If you plan to connect your \fIircd\fP server to an existing IRC network,
you will need to alter your local \fIircd\fP configuration file (typically named
\fIircd.conf\fP) so that it will accept and make connections to other IRC
servers.  This file contains the hostnames, network addresses, and
passwords for connections to other IRC servers around the world.  Because 
the description of the \fIircd.conf\fP file is beyond the scope of this
document, please refer to the INSTALL file in the \fIircd\fP
documentation directory.
.LP
BOOTING THE SERVER:  The \fIircd\fP server can be started as part of the
UNIX boot procedure or just by placing the server into Unix Background.
Keep in mind that if it is *not* part of your UNIXES Boot-up procedure 
then you will have to manually start the \fIircd\fP server each time your
UNIX is rebooted.  This means if your UNIX is prone to crashing
or going for for repairs a lot it would make sense to start the \fIircd\fP
server as part of your UNIX bootup procedure.  In some cases the \fIirc(1)\fP
will automatically attempt to boot the \fIircd\fP server if the user is
on the SAME UNIX that the \fIircd\fP is supposed to be running on.  If the
\fIirc(1)\fP cannot connect to the \fIircd\fP server it will try to start
the server on it's own and will then try to reconnect to the newly booted
\fIircd\fP server.
.SH EXAMPLE
.RS
.nf
tolsun% \fBircd\fP
.fi
.RE
.LP
Places \fIircd\fP into UNIX Background and starts up the server for use.
Note:  You do not have to add the "&" to this command, the program will
automatically detach itself from tty.
.SH COPYRIGHT
(c) 1988,1989 University of Oulu, Computing Center, Finland,
.LP
(c) 1988,1989 Department of Information Processing Science,
University of Oulu, Finland
.LP
(c) 1988,1989,1990,1991 Jarkko Oikarinen
.LP
For full COPYRIGHT see LICENSE file with IRC package.
.LP
.RE
.SH FILES
 /etc/utmp
 "ircd.conf"
.SH "SEE ALSO"
irc(1)
.SH BUGS
See the file 'BUGS' included in the distribution.
.SH AUTHOR
The current authors of the undernet IRC daemon are coder-com@undernet.org,
the original author was Jarkko Oikarinen.